1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tool for use in laying horizontal courses of bricks and, more particularly, to a tool for establishing a horizontal guideline above the last course of bricks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, when laying brick and similar masonry materials it is difficult to keep the courses of masonry plumb and level. In laying up an ordinary wall, a mason lays up the corners and uses the layers of brick in the corner as a guide along with a conventional guideline for each succeeding row of brick. However, when the mason arrives at the gable end of a building, he is faced with the dual problem of irregular and out of plumb gable framing and an inability to build up the corners to act as guides for use with conventional guidelines. As a result, it has been the practice, in the past, to build up pyramids at the ends to act as guides. Since the carpentry work on gables ends of buildings is frequently out of plumb, the pyramids are frequently out of plumb due to irregularities in the gable ends. As a result, a great deal of time is consumed in properly aligning and laying the brick in the gable portion of a building.
There have been various attempts to facilitate the positioning of a horizontal guideline above the last course of bricks so as to guide the mason in laying a new course of bricks. One such arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,991,557 to Bongiovanni. In this arrangement, a pair of guideline holders are clamped to a facia board which holds a guideline spaced from the last course. The holder is made of a channel with a sidewall to bear against the inner surface of the facia board. A leg or locator with a stop bears against a previous course. The guideline passes through a slot fixed in position by a shoulder and is secured by a line lock. The device, however, has numerous drawbacks. The device is limited to use in gables which must be constructed prior to using the device. Further, there is no provision for dealing with the excess guideline as the gable becomes progressively smaller as the courses of bricks near the apex of the gable. Most importantly, because the device is attached to the soffit, the location of the guideline is dependent upon the location of the soffit. Also, the device and the guideline will tend to shake if carpenters or roofers are walking on the roof.
A second type of arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,571,931 to Williams. In this arrangement, a pair of U-shaped adapter brackets with an L-type square are shown clamped to an edge of a facia board which holds a mason's guideline. This device is again subject to the difficulties noted with respect to U.S. Pat. No. 2,991,557.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a gable mason's tool which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art, and in which the guideline can be selectively wound and unwound around a rotatable spool until the guideline is wound to the desired tautness. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, this object is achieved by providing a plate member for insertion into wet mortar having a front wall, a rear wall and side wall. Tensioning means are provided for selectively stretching the guideline from being slack to a desired level of tautness. Reel means are provided which are rotatable relative to the plate member for selectively winding and unwinding the guideline such that the guideline winds around the reel means as the guideline is being stretched to the desired tautness.
It is a further object of the invention to calibrate the height of a row of notches located on the device relative to the last course of bricks. The guideline is received by the row of notches establishing the guideline at a desired height above the last course of bricks. Plumb means are movable in accordance with the level of tautness of the guideline for ensuring that the guideline is plumb. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, these objects are achieved by providing a row of vertically spaced notches in the sidewall for receiving the guideline. High calibrating means are provided for calibrating the height of the row of notches relative to the last row of bricks. The height calibrating means is movable with the level of tautness of the guideline until the height calibrating means is moved into a predetermined position such that the guideline is established at target height above the last course of bricks. Plumb means are provided for ensuring that the guideline is plumb. The plumb means is movable in accordance with the level of tautness of the guideline until the plumb means is moved into a predetermined position such that a plumb guideline is established.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a gable mason's tool of the type described which is simple in construction, cost effective in operation and requires little maintenance.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent during the course of the following detailed description and appended claims. The invention may best be understood with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which an illustrative embodiment is shown.